Are you following the UT-Austin professors’ case in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as it relates to academic freedom and guns on campus? The defense (state) says: “The right to academic freedom, if it exists, belongs to the institution, not the individual professor,” says a brief filed by the state’s lawyers on behalf of UT President Gregory L. Fenves and others. Then, President Fenves says they don’t really believe that.

The Teacher Retirement System was created in 1937 as a way to make teaching in Texas a desirable career. TRS is one of the largest and healthiest pension funds in the nation. It consistently outperforms expected rates of return and serves as a backbone of attracting quality people into the education profession in the Lone Star State.

The Senate Higher Education Committee convened today to take testimony about alternative methods of university finance, such as competency-based and performance funding models. Currently, an all-funds model is used, primarily involving a contact hour formula system.